This Salad Features the best of the farmers market fresh tomatoes and herbs. It is very simple, beautiful and easy to make. It takes me only about 5-10 minutes to make, and I’m pretty slow. I always look forward to the season when there is plenty of colorful varieties of heirloom tomatoes at the market.

They are usually available in the late summer through the fall. Try to follow the seasons and buy what is currently available in your local area. This is still a great simple salad with any type of tomatoes, but the heirloom pineapple tomatoes just burst with so much succulent flavor and richness. If you can find them when they’re in season it’s so worth it. All of the heirloom tomato varieties are excellent, but the pineapple always seems to be my favorite. Yellow bell peppers are also very sweet and mild and go well with this mix. They look lovely too. I usually buy a pre-mix of organic baby greens at the market. They include greens like baby chard, kale, romaine, spinach, arugula, etc. Most stores carry organic garden mixes of baby greens as well. Macadamia nut oil is also becoming more and more popular and easy to find.

Serves 2

For the Salad:

2 Large Yellow Bell Peppers

2-3 Large Heirloom Pineapple Tomatoes

1/2 Cup Sun-dried Heirloom Pineapple Tomatoes

1 Large Fuerte or Hass Avocado

1/2 Cup Italian Parsley

1/2 Cup Sweet Basil

1/2 Cup Cilantro

1/2 Cup Mixed Baby Greens

1/2 Of Juice of a Lime or Orange

Pinch Course Sea Salt

2-3 TB Macadamia Nut Oil

2 tsp. Dried Italian Herb Seasoning

Your best bet will be an organic grocery store and it’s usually located in the refrigerated section next to the flax oils etc. If you can’t find any though, olive oil is a good replacement. However, macadamia nut oil has quickly become my favorite oil for salads. It has such a strong and intense macadamia nut flavor that is both nutty and buttery. With salt added to it, it just explodes with flavor. It also has a lot more heart healthy monounsaturated fats in it then olive oil does. It also has a perfect omega 3 to 6 ratio and has been praised everywhere recently as an amazing metabolism boaster for weight loss or maintenance. I usually eat just a large meal size salad for dinner most nights. It is the quickest thing to throw together after a busy day and is so healthy and satisfying. It even makes a great light lunch or side salad.

By just looking for the freshest ingredients in season and varying the quantities in your salads you can always keep it interesting and fun. Trying new dressings and condiments is great as well. When I feel like something a little heavier I just add it to my salad. Like hemp seeds, sesame, pumpkin or other seeds. Yellow Bell Pepper and Heirloom Tomato

Instructions
Place the Baby Greens in a Mixing bowl and chop the rest of the ingredients. Cube the avocado, slice the heirloom tomatoes in large slices. Slice large long slices of yellow bell pepper. With a sharp paring knife, slice the sun-dried tomatoes in large slices. Chop up the Parsley and Cilantro. For the Basil you can just pick off the whole leaves or chop them. Toss everything in the bowl and then mix the dressing. Place the Lime Juice, Salt, Macadamia Nut Oil, and Italian Herb Seasoning in a cup and stir vigorously until well blended. Pour this dressing over the salad. This salad will fill 2 serving bowls as a main course.

http://rawdaddyfoods.com James

Although this looks like a wonderful salad, and I have to thank Chef Jana for bringing it to the table, why is GMonkie posting a salad that has no business being posted in winter. This salad, for most of the country, is completely out of season. Tomatoes are in season in the summer, as are Bell Peppers. Bring on the winter recipes.

http://greenchefs.tv Jana

Hey James! Yeah, that is an excellent point. lol.

This salad is from earlier, I think it was just somehow marked wrong on when it was set to go live. I wish I could still find heirloom tomatoes at the market, but will have to wait a long time. At least it is summer in other parts of the world though, so they can enjoy it. More winter recipes are coming, and I'll have this get reposted next summer when it's appropriate for the U.S.

Kelly Myra

Hey James, not everyone lives in America. On the other side of the globe it is summer. I am totally making this salad.